The film, which is due for release in August 2017, is a follow-up to 2012's Prometheus and also stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace.

McBride told the Press Association: "I got a f****** document of like 10 pages of everything I'm not allowed to say about it.

"I'm having a blast on that movie. It's awesome. I'm the pilot of the spaceship, the Covenant. It's a colonisation ship. It's full of couples.

"We're setting off to find a planet that we're hopefully going to colonise and s*** doesn't go as planned."

McBride, who is the co-writer and star of Sky Atlantic's new comedy series Vice Principals, said he managed to secure a cameo appearance by Bill Murray on the TV show after a chance meeting on a plane.

The series - which follows two rival vice principals competing for the headteacher's job at a US high school - is set in Charleston, South Carolina, where Murray lives.

McBride said: "He spent the whole flight telling us why we should shoot in Charleston so we took his advice.

"He's such an incredible icon. It's incredible not only to see him work, but it's incredible to see the effect he has on everyone. Every single person on that crew so giddy and in awe watching him."

McBride's Vice Principals co-star Walton Goggins, who appeared in Quentin Tarantino's film The Hateful Eight, said he was so intimidated by Murray he initially tried to avoid him on set.

"I hid out from him the first time I saw him," Goggins said. "It was just too much for me to take in.

"I was like 'oh f***, here he comes. I'll go hide in my trailer'. I stayed in there for 15 minutes and I heard him talking to the person outside."

Goggins said he eventually built up the courage to leave his trailer, believing Murray had left the area, but saw the Ghostbusters star "just sitting there".

"We had a lovely conversation," Goggins said. "He's been that guy for as long as I've been alive and really been formed by his movies."

The first episode of Vice Principals will be shown on Sky Atlantic on July 26.